VERSIFICATION VERTUMNUS. 



809 



same principles with respect to the place of the 

 pause. 



VERSIFICATION. See Verse. 



VERST, OR WERST ; a Russian measure, equal 

 to about two thirds of an English mile. See Mea- 

 sures. 



VERTEBRA : the name of the little bones 

 which compose the spine. They are short, thick, 

 angular, twenty-four in number, placed one above 

 the other. Each vertebra has commonly seven 

 processes. The first of these is the spinous process, 

 which is placed at the back part of the vertebra, 

 and gives the name of spine to the whole of this 

 bony canal. Two others are called transverse pro- 

 cesses, from their situation with respect to the 

 spine, and are placed on each side of the spinous 

 process. The four others, which are called oblique 

 processes, are much smaller than the other three. 

 There are two of these on the upper, and two on 

 the lower part of each vertebra, rising from near 

 the basis of the transverse processes. They are 

 sometimes called articular processes, because the 

 two superior processes of one vertebra are articu- 

 lated with the two inferior processes of the verte- 

 bra above it ; and they are called oblique pro- 

 cesses, from their situation with respect to the pro- 

 cesses with which they are articulated. These 

 oblique processes are articulated to each other 

 by a species of ginglymus, and each process is 

 covered at its articulation with cartilage. There 

 is in every vertebra a hole large enough to admit a 

 finger. These holes correspond with each other, 

 and form a long bony conduit, for the lodgment of 

 the spinal marrow. Besides this great hole, there 

 are four notches on each side of every vertebra, be- 

 tween the oblique processes and the body of the 

 vertebra. Two of these notches are at the upper, 

 and two at the lower part of the bone. Each of 

 the inferior notches, meeting with one of the supe- 

 rior notches of the vertebra below it, forms a fora- 

 men ; whilst the superior notches do the same with 

 the inferior notches of the vertebra above it. These 

 four foramina form passages for blood-vessels, and 

 for the nerves that pass out of the spine. The ver- 

 tebrae are united together by means of a substance, 

 compressible like cork, which forms a kind of parti- 

 tion between them. The change which takes place 

 in these intervertebral cartilages (as they are usually 

 called), in advanced life, occasions the decrease in 

 stature, and the stooping forwards, which are usually 

 to be observed in old people. The cartilages then 

 become shrivelled, and consequently lose, in a great 

 measure, their elasticity. But, besides this gradual 

 effect of old age, these cartilages are subject to a 

 temporary diminution, from the weight of the body 

 in an erect posture ; so that people who have been 

 long standing, or who have carried a considerable 

 weight, are found to be shorter than when they 

 have been long in bed. Hence we are taller in the 

 morning than at night. The difference in such cases 

 depends on the age and size of the subject : in tall, 

 young people, it is nearly an inch ; but in older or 

 shorter persons, less considerable. Besides these 

 cartilages, there are many strong ligaments, which 

 unite the bones of the spine to each other. Besides 

 the uses of the vertebrae in defending the spinal 

 marrow, and in articulating the several vertebrae, 

 they serve to form a greater surface for tbf lodg- 

 ment of muscles, and enable the latter to act more 

 powerfully on the trunk, by affording them a lever 

 of considerable length. In a part of the body that 

 is composed of so great a number of bones, and 



constructed for such a variety of motion, as the 

 spine is, luxuation is more to be expected than frac- 

 ture ; and this is very wisely guarded against, in 

 every direction, by the many processes that are to 

 be found in each vertebra, and by the cartilages, 

 ligaments, and other means of connexion which we 

 have described as uniting them together. 



VERTEBRAL ANIMALS. See Animals. 



VERTEX is used, in astronomy, for the point 

 of heaven perpendicular over our heads, properly 

 called the zenith. 



Vertical circle, in astronomy ; a great circle of 

 the sphere, passing through the zenith and nadir, 

 and cutting the horizon at right angles : it is other- 

 wise called azimuth. 



Vertical prime is that vertical circle or azimuth 

 which passes through the poles of the meridian, or 

 which is perpendicular to the meridian, and passes 

 throug"h the equinoctial points. 



Vertical plane, in perspective, is a plane perpen- 

 dicular to the geometrical plane, passing through 

 the eye, and cutting the perspective plane at right 

 angles. 



Vertical plane, in conies, is a plane passing 

 through the vertex of the cone, and parallel to any 

 conic section. 



VERTOT D'AUBCEUF, RENE AUBERT DE, a 

 French historian, some of whose works have been 

 translated into English, was born at the castle of 

 Bennetot, in Normandy, of a good family, in 1655. 

 His application to study was early and persevering ; 

 but, much against his father's will, he entered 

 among the Capuchins, and took the name of brother 

 Zachary. The austerities of his order not agreeing 

 with his health, he was induced to change it for 

 that of the Premonstratenses, and became succes- 

 sively secretary to the general of the order, rector, 

 and, at length, prior of the monastery. After some 

 other changes of situation, he became a secular ec- 

 clesiastic, and, in 1701, came to Paris in that char- 

 acter. His talents soon procured him patronage. 

 In 1705, he was made associate of the academy of 

 belles-lettres, and, after a while, secretary of lan- 

 guages to the duke of Orleans. In 1715, the grand 

 master of Malta appointed him his historiographer. 

 His last years were passed in much bodily infirmity, 

 from which he was relieved by death, in 1735. He 

 was bordering on his forty-fifth year when he wrote 

 his first history, and had passed his seventieth when 

 he finished his last, that of Malta. His style is 

 lively, pleasing and elegant; his reflections always 

 just, and often profound. He, however, wanted 

 the industry and research which. are among the 

 leading requisites of the historian ; and he yielded 

 too much to imagination, and depended too much 

 upon memory, to be either accurate or trustworthy. 

 His principal works are, Histoire des Revolutions de 

 Portugal (1689) ; Histoire des Revolutions de Suede 

 (1696, 2 vols., 12mo.); Histoire des Revolutions 

 Romaines (3 vols., 12mo.) ; Histoire de Malthe 

 (1727. 4 vols., 4to.); Traite de la Mouvance de 

 Bretagne ; Histoire Critique de V Etablissement des 

 Bretons dans les Gaules (2 vols., 12mo.). He 

 wrote also some dissertations in the Memoirs of the 

 Academy of Belles-lettres, and had much inter- 

 course with the literati of his day. His correspon- 

 dence with lord Stanhope on the senate of ancient 

 Rome has been published by the historian of Rome, 

 Hooke. 



VERTUMNUS ; a deity among the Romans, 

 who borrowed him from the Etrurians : he presided 

 over the spring and orchards. He endeavoured to 



